05/30/2026
Wow! What an evening! I wanted to take a moment to share my utmost appreciation for everyone that helped make this happen. Huge round of applause for our Emcee, David Jenkins, he’s a natural at the microphone! Mayor Dons for all of his words, his help taking down the stage and I wanted everyone to know he was the last person to leave downtown. He was picking up left over zip ties and random pieces from the street. Thank you for everything you do! Thank you to the gentleman that gave a hand in getting the stage down in record time! Phil Ernst and Mark Hughes for making sure the bunting was hung and the lights were on at the countdown (although somewhat anticlimactic given it wasn’t dark enough 🤣) Chris Garner and Kendra Wright from DAR for taking the time to recognize our place in America’s history and for your donations. Shotgun Creek, holy smokes, what a great band! If you haven’t already, give them a follow on social media! Same with Wild Foam Adventures out of Vandalia. They were a huge hit with the kiddos and even some adults! Your kids have never come home from a downtown celebration more clean than they did last night 😄 Alverson Sound out of Coffeen for their amazing stage set up! AJ Banners and Alpha Candles for their partnership. (I’ll have candles at the next Hillsboro market, stay tuned for a sneak peak!)Bob and Susan Schwandner, Amber Kalaher, and Paula Bartz for helping to set up on site. You all are rock stars! Paris Frozen Foods graciously donated some of the meat that the FFA was cooking up, so huge thank you to them! The FFA plans to donate a portion of proceeds to a local veteran group. The Snow Princesses made sure everyone looked beautiful with their face painting and sold USA bracelets for the proceeds to be donated back to a local veterans group. Another huge shoutout, IGA donated chips and buns! Our drink and dessert vendors made sure everyone’s sweet tooth’s were satisfied! It is truly heart warming when businesses and community members come together. Again, thank you thank you all! I didn’t get many pictures last night so if you did and would like to drop them in the comments please do!! Here is what I did get!
